Flazinamide, a novel beta-carboline compound with anti-HIV actions

A beta-carboline compound, flazin isolated from Suillus granulatus has been shown weak anti-HIV-1 activity. Based on the structure of flazin, flazinamide [1-(5'-hydromethyl-2'-furyl)-beta-carboline-3-carboxamide] was synthesized and its anti-HIV activitie

大熊猫生殖生物学研究 I:大熊猫发情期血清和尿液中促黄体素、孕酮和17β-二雌二醇含量的变化

放射免疫和生物测定法表明3只大熊猫在发情高峰期均出现雌二醇和促黄体素高峰; LH峰值出现在E_(2)峰值以后。根据雌兽在发情期血清和尿液中这二种激素的变化可为选择人工授精最佳时间提供可靠的理论依据。图2表2参15

鸟类核型研究Ⅸ. 画眉亚科17种

该文报道了雀形目鶲科画眉亚科17种鸟类核型, 臂间倒位和小染色体缺失在该亚科进化中起重要作用. 在核型比较基础上结合古地理以及生态资料对该类群的起源和进化作了初步探讨。

大肠杆菌基因中密码子前后碱基的使用与蛋白质结构

对一组E. coli基因中编码蛋白质各类二级结构(#alpha#-螺旋、#beta#-折叠片、无规卷曲和回折)的密码子前后碱基的使用情况进行统计分析和比较,发现一些密码子前后碱基的使用有偏向,而且这些偏向与蛋白质的二级结构有关联。这同时亦表明,E. coli基因中同义密码子的选用与蛋白质的二级结构有一些关联。模型对于蛋白质结构预测算法的改进以及基因工程的研究有辅助作用。

利用17个微卫星标记分析鳙鱼的遗传多样性

选用实验室克隆的17个鳙鱼微卫星分子标记分析四川泸州和江西鄱阳湖的两个种群鳙鱼的遗传多样性及种质特性,计算和统计了杂合度、多态信息含量(PIC)、有效等位基因数、等位基因频率、遗传距离、遗传相似系数、Hardy-Weinberg平衡偏离指数等方面内容。结果表明:选择使用17个微卫星标记,其中有4个为单态标记,13个为多态标记。江西和四川鳙鱼群体每个微卫星位点的平均等位基因数分别为3.325及3.882,平均有效等位基因数分别为3.531及2.676,多态位点百分率分别为82.4及70.5,17个微卫星标记

银鲫卵黄原的诱导、分离纯化及其生化鉴定

以雄性银鲫为实验材料 ,通过雌二醇 (Estradiol- 1 7β,E2 )的多次诱导 ,使得 E2 诱导产物成为血清中的主要蛋白。而后 ,在快速蛋白液相色谱 (FPL C)系统上 ,利用高交换量的阴离子交换层析 Q柱 ,成功的从血清中提纯了与雌性特异蛋白相一致的 E2 诱导产物。糖、磷、脂蛋白分析表明 ,它是一类糖磷脂蛋白大分子。同时 ,它能被 Mg2 + - Ethylenediamine tetraaceticacid(Mg2 + - EDTA)部分沉淀 ,这进一步证明 ,与雌性特异蛋白相一致的

八角枫挥发油化学成分研究

八角枫是八角枫科八角枫属药用植物 ,分布较广。用气相色谱 /质谱 /计算机联用技术 ( GC/MS/DS)分析了水蒸气蒸馏得到的八角枫挥发油 ,鉴定出 5 9种化学成分 ,其主要成分为 :1 ,8-桉叶素 ( 43.32 5 % )、β-侧柏烯 ( 1 0 .71 3% )、丁香酚甲醚 ( 7.0 88% )、α-松油醇( 7.0 1 7% )、α-蒎烯 ( 5 .830 % )等 5种化合物。被鉴定的 5 9种成分 ,共占挥发油总量的97.0 4 %。

漫谈B_(17)——奇异的抗癌物质

<正> 日常生活中,B族的维生素是人们所熟悉的。例如B_1、B_2、B_4、B_6和B_(12)等,凡缺乏B族维生素就会使人们患各种维生素缺乏症。近年来国际上又发现了一种新的B族成员即B_(17),它的发现使人们充满了对癌症防治的信心,为防癌、抗癌药物增添了一朵奇葩。食品中有哪些含有B_(17),据记载有水果类、藻类、植物叶和鳖类 一、杏子:话还得从头说起,在南太平洋中有一个斐济岛国。该国气候终年如春,以盛产杏子

Effect of beta-glucan on activity of antioxidant enzymes and Mx gene expression in virus infected grass carp

The effects of beta-glucan, an immunostimulatory agent, on the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities of erythrocytes and Mx gene expression were studied from grass carp that were challenged with grass carp hemorrhage virus (GCHV). The SOD and CAT activities in erythrocytes and Mx gene expression in spleen from the fish were detected by spectrophotometry and RT-PCR, respectively. Negative control fish were injected with PBS; positive control groups were injected with either P-glucan or GCHV only; and the experimental groups were pre-injected with beta-glucan 15 days prior to injection with GCHV. The results show that the SOD and CAT activities were higher in fish injected with beta-glucan for 15 days than the negative control group injected with PBS. The SOD and CATactivities significantly decreased when the fish were challenged with GCHV, but it was higher in the group pre-treated with beta-glucan than in infected fish not pre-treated, 15 days after GCHV infection. Mx gene expression levels increased during the early stages (at 12 h and 36 h) of GCHV infection, and it remained at higher levels from the 6th till the 10th day in the beta-glucan pre-treated group, but it was failing from the 6th day in the beta-glucan untreated group. The GCHV-infected group pre-treated with P-glucan had a higher survival rate (60%) than the group not pre-treated with P-glucan (20%), suggesting that beta-glucan possesses or enhances anti-viral responses. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waterborne exposure to fluorotelomer alcohol 6:2 FTOH alters plasma sex hormone and gene transcription in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis of zebrafish

Fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) have shown estrogenic activity in vitro and in vivo, but the mechanism of this activity is not known. In this study, 18-week-old zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to 0, 0.03, 0.3 and 3.0 mg/l 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctan-1-ol (6:2 ETCH) for 7 days, and the effects on plasma sex hormone levels were measured followed by use of real-time PCR to examine selected gene expression in hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis and liver. Exposure to 6:2 FTOH significantly increased plasma estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T) levels in both males and females. Furthermore, the ratio of T/E2 was reduced in females while increased in males. In females, the increase of E2 was accompanied by up-regulated hepatic estrogenic receptor alpha (ER alpha) and vitellogenin (VTG1 and VTG3) expression. In males, the elevation of the T level is consistent with the up-regulation of cytochrome P450 c17 alpha-hydroxylase, 17, 20-lase (CYP17) and the down-regulation of cytochrome P450 aromatase A (CYP19A). The present study demonstrated that waterborne exposure to 6:2 FTOH alter plasma sex hormone levels and the ratio of T/E2, as well as the transcriptional profiles of some genes in the HPG axis and liver. The results suggested that FTOHs may disturb fish reproduction through endocrine disrupted activity. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial activity-specific to Gram-negative bacteria and immune modulation-mediated NF-kappa B and Sp1 of a medaka beta-defensin

Defensins are a group of cationic antimicrobial peptides which play an important role in the innate immune system by exerting their antimicrobial activity against pathogens. In this study, we cloned a novel beta-defensin cDNA from medaka (Oryzias latipes) by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) technique. The full-length cDNA consists of 480 bp, and the open reading frame (CRF) of 189 bp encodes a polypeptide of 63 amino acids (aa) with a predicted molecular weight of 7.44 kDa. Its genomic organization was analyzed, and Southern blot detection confirmed that only one copy of beta-defensin exists in the medaka HNI strain. RT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry detections showed that the beta-defensin transcript and protein could be detected in eyes, liver, kidney, blood, spleen and gill, and obviously prevalent expression was found in eyes. Antimicrobial activity of the medaka beta-defensin was evaluated, and the antibacterial activity-specific to Gram-negative bacteria was revealed. Furthermore, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, was demonstrated to be able to induce about 13-fol up-regulation of the beta-defensin within first 12 h. In addition, promoter and promoter mutagenesis analysis were performed in the medaka beta-defensin. A proximal 100 base pair(bp) sequence (+26 to -73)and the next 1700 bp sequence (-73 to -1755) were demonstrated to be responsible for the basal promoter activity and for the transcription regulation. Three nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) cis-elements and a Sp1 cis-element were revealed by mutagenesis analysis to exist in the 5' flanking sequence, and they were confirmed to be responsible for the up-regulation of medaka beta-defensin stimulated by LPS. And, the Sp1 cis-element was further revealed to be related to the basal promoter activity, and transcriptional factor II D (TFIID) was found to be in charge of the gene transcription initiation. All the obtained data suggested that the novel medaka beta-defensin should have antimicrobial activity-specific to Gram-negative bacteria, and the antibacterial immune function should be modulated by NF-kappa B and Sp1. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular cloning and characterization of carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) CD8 beta and CD4-like genes

Partial cDNA sequences of both CD8 beta and CD4-like (CD4L) genes of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) were isolated from thymus cDNA library by the method of suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH). Subsequently the full length cDNAs of carp CD8 and CD4L were obtained by means of 3' RACE and 5' RACE, respectively. The full length cDNA of carp CD8 is 1164 bp and encodes 207 amino acids including a signal peptide region of 24 amino acids, a transmembrane region of 23 amino acids from aa 167 to aa189 and an immunoglobulin V-set from aa 19 to aa 141. Similar to other species CD8 beta s,carp CD8 beta also lacks p56(lck) domain in the cytoplasmic region. The full length cDNA of carp CD4L is 2001 bp and encodes 458 amino acids including four immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains in the extracellular region, a transmembrane region of 23 amino acids at the C-terminal region from aa 402 to aa 424 and a cytoplasmic tail. Similar to mammalian, avian CD4s and fugu CD4L, carp CD4L also has the conserved p56(lck) tyrosine kinase motif (C-X-C) in the cytoplasmic region. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that carp CD8 beta and CD4L genes were both expressed predominantly in thymus. The results from this study can be used to understand the evolution of both the CD8 beta and CD4 molecules which can be used as markers for cytotoxic and helper T cells in carp. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Headspace solid-phase microextraction with novel sol-gel permethylated-beta-cyclodextrin/hydroxyl-termination silicone oil fiber for determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in soil

A simple, sensitive, and accurate method for determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in soil has been developed based on headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Permethylated-beta-cyclodextrin/hydroxyl-termination silicone oil (PM-beta-CD/OH-TSO) fiber was first prepared by sol-gel technology and employed in SPME procedure. By exploiting the superiorities of sot-gel coating technique and the advantages of the high hydrophobic doughnut-shaped cavity of PM-beta-CD, the novel fiber showed desirable operational stability and extraction ability. After optimization on extraction conditions like water addition, extraction temperature, extraction time, salts effect, and solvents addition, the method was validated in soil samples, achieving good linearity (r>0.999), precision (R.S.D. < 10%), accuracy (recovery>78%), and detection limits (S/N =3) raging from 13.0 to 78.3 pg/g. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The recombinant beta subunit of C-phycocyanin inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis

C-Phycocyanin (C-PC) from blue-green algae has been reported to have various pharmacological characteristics, including antiinflammatory and anti-tumor activities. In this study, we expressed the beta-subunit of C-PC (ref to as C-POP) in Escherichia coli. We found that the recombinant C-PC/beta has anti-cancer properties. Under the treatment of 5 mu M of the recombinant C-PC/beta, four different cancer cell lines accrued high proliferation inhibition and apoptotic induction. Substantially, a lower response occurred in non-cancer cells. We investigated the mechanism by which C-PC/beta inhibits cancer cell proliferation and induces apoptosis. We found that the C-PC/beta interacts with membrane-associated beta-tubulin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Under the treatment of the C-PC/beta, depolymerization of microtubules and actin-filaments were observed. The cells underwent apoptosis with an increase in caspase-3, and caspase-8 activities. The cell cycle was arrested at the G0/G1 phase under the treatment of C-PC/beta. In addition, the nuclear level of GAPDH decreased significantly. Decrease in the nuclear level of GAPDH prevents the cell cycle from entering into the S phase. Inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis may potentate the C-POP as a promising cancer prevention or therapy agent. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.